Comments on: The Doctor Who Knew Too Muchhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/
Tara Parker-Pope on HealthFri, 13 Mar 2015 10:35:21 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/section/NytSectionHeader.gifNYThttp://www.nytimes.com
By: Janhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-3/#comment-662985
Thu, 21 Apr 2011 02:21:11 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-662985I would like to simply ask a question here if I may. I am a stage 4 survivor of ovarian cancer 15 years now. Dx. at age 58.No recurrence to date. Yes, I am very thankful but- at the time being told after full hysterectomy in the hospital my gyn/surgeon told me right out things did not look good for me but the oncologist will give you chemo to maybe help he said to me. A couple of weeks following the oncologist tells me I may have 3-7 mo. or with chemo maybe a year or a little more.Does one have to be told all this bad news? Looking at your oncologist and him saying you are going to die soon in all probability.I then was giving up after all the bad news. But – I was lucky the chemo worked on my tumor on the liver. Shrunk down to scar tissue like. (fist size in the begining I was told) I was my gyn. only living stg 4 patient back then for some time. Please help me to understand why doctors give you the full story. Can’t they spare you some of it? They now look at me with amazement and smile . I no longer see my oncologist but do see my gyn for a yearly check of everything. Thanks for any input. Jan
]]>By: Carl Segvichhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-3/#comment-661967
Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:57:46 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-661967Dr Dave NYC (#13 response) is right to expose the “White Wall of Silence”.
It is built out of green money.
Here is a huge problem delaying cures to our diseases including cancers:Money!
Memorial-Sloan Kettering Hosp. is a not-for-profit organization. As its name indicates, a nonprofit organization is established for something other than accruing financial profit. It is designed to achieve magnanimous goals and is supposed to serve a public good, to promote the general welfare of our society as a whole.
At the tax-exempt Memorial SK , total 2008 revenues reached $2.1 billion. The hospital paid officers, directors, trustees and key employees $25.1 million. In comparison, the highly esteemed nonprofit Red Cross, with 50 percent more in total revenue, paid its board a much more modest $3.7 million. With $3.3 billion of income, the Red Cross paid its CEO a $550,000 salary. Compare that with MSK, which lavished its CEO with $4.4 million.

MSK, while saying they will put your donated millions of dollars into research, is actually putting millions of dollars directly into their own private bank accounts. This is undeniable. This is morally bankrupt.
They are holding patients hostage.
Carl Segvich

]]>By: Jeaneane Dialhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-3/#comment-661531
Tue, 22 Mar 2011 17:38:38 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-661531I just got goosebumps as a read this. I literally just posted about numbers on my blog. My husband just ran his first 5k on sunday. He ran it for the Colon Cancer Coalition. Statistics say his chances aren’t great. The survival of stage IV colon cancer numbers are low, especially over 5 years.

But we have never really took those numbers to heart, never asked the doctor what his survival rate looked like…because really it is only a number. Our local oncologist, the one we see when not at memorial b/c we live in Philly, keeps on saying Eric is “not a typical stage iv colon cancer patient”. That makes me smile. All of the doctors that meet Eric are astonished with how active and strong he is despite numerous surgeries, months of intense chemo, and a variety of other life saving procedures that have been thrown at him these past 5 months. And I could hardly contain myself when one Memorial doctor actually said Eric might be one of the small percentage of people who are cured.

As great as that sounded, in the end its all just numbers…it’s how YOU choose to interpret those numbers that make all the difference. On March 16th, 4 days before Eric ran his 5k, I wrote this on his facebook page:

“life can sometimes be about numbers. 5 months ago you were diagnosed with cancer and had part of your colon removed. the stage was 4. 4 months ago today you had the first round of your tumors removed from your liver. in 4 days you will run your first 5k. 5 weeks after that the rest of your cancerous tumors will be removed from your liver. you are beating cancer, and I am so proud of you! I love you!”

]]>By: Katherinehttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-3/#comment-660743
Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:14:06 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-660743Would all of you, 1-101 plus Dr. Bach, please, please, PLEASE help with my crusade for the wider use of MRI for breast cancer screening, particularly in women age 50 and older? Mammography is too inadequate to be relied upon exclusively. My story explains. Please read it, posted at

]]>By: Cheriehttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-3/#comment-659401
Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:04:02 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-659401Touching. Thank you for sharing such a personal story.
Praying for you and your family.
]]>By: Janehttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-659287
Mon, 14 Mar 2011 05:19:02 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-659287Dr. and Mrs. Bach, it is brave and commendable of you to share your story.

I have also tottered on the high wire of ‘knowing too much’. Long story short, my husband’s leukemia diagnosis was a six-month long, grueling ‘rule-out’. Learning the actual diagnosis ‘accidentally’ from a well-meaning (?) co-worker a week before he did became the only meaningful – albeit short-lived – deception in our marriage. Letting the professional detachment go completely is still a work in progress, but it’s all true: you must be, and can only be, the well spouse to your ill spouse, not the medical professional. Against all of our training and scientific mindsets.

Even in the ICU, when the perfect storm of complications of unknown origin takes your spouse to the brink, over and over, finally to come out the other side safe.

At the beginning of all this I was a good oncology nurse. Now, I am a much better one. There is no cure, and we will live with that. I will be his caring, supportive spouse, as long as I can.

You have my heartfelt support on your journey.

]]>By: Jennifer K.http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-656988
Wed, 09 Mar 2011 20:50:31 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-656988Seriously? We bash doctors left and right for not being emotional and compassionate and here we bash one for writing about his experience–personally and professionally–with his wife’s cancer? Human experience is human experience–a little compassion, folks. I don’t think Dr. Bach is feeling terribly “entitled” as he and his wife walk this path together. The more we all–patients, physicians, spouses–can reflect and understand all facets of dealing with any disease the better we–as a society–will be moving forward. I look forward to reading this blog and am grateful for Dr. Bach for sharing his intimate thoughts and fears with us.
]]>By: Michaelhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-656326
Wed, 09 Mar 2011 14:36:37 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-656326Hello, Dr. Bach —

I want to thank you for sharing your thoughts and story. As a pediatric cardiologist, I too fear being on the other side of the waiting room — especially with my children. As someone who completed a residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital, I was at MSKCC for a good deal of my training, and in the pediatric ICU as well. After training in an environment where the most severe disease and the sickest patients are seen, , it is very hard to be a parent who does not fear the worst with every symptom experienced by my kids. It is as if the most severe diseases are the norm, rather than the exceptions, as that is what I have seen the most of. I can always remember one gravely ill patient whose story started out with just the same symptom — and the movie then plays in my mind, in fast-forward, as I fear the worst. I often say that it is easy to be a good parent, and it is easy to be a good pediatrician, but it is very, very difficult to be both. Fear and worry can grab hold with an iron grip, and sometimes escape from them feels nearly impossible.

]]>By: Sheila Wolfehttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-655222
Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:50:10 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-655222I am finding reading this whole experience of Dr. Bach sickening. I am a present patient of Dr Cody’s . I have just completed 33 radiation treatments, had the onco type test, borderline for chemo, but not recommended and will be taking Arimidex. I certainly am glad my husband does not act like a basket case. Its all about Dr Bach, hey, you are not the patient.
]]>By: DLhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-652416
Fri, 04 Mar 2011 01:51:25 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-652416My sympathy goes out to the Bachs. However, I felt that the the level of writing skill in this article was inadequate to the unique drama of the situation. The thesis seems to me to be about the tension between the roles that Dr. Bach play, the physician and the husband ,and how in this moment of personal tragedy, the role of the husband (or spouse) comes first. Dr. Bach’s essay seems reluctant to concede this point.
]]>By: RON SYDNEYhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-652322
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 23:35:25 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-652322As much as I wish your wife speedy recovery and full health,there are 40 to 50 million people in this country that
will not receive care and many of those that care receive will wind up in bankruptcy.
You see,some of us also know too much.
About how “industry” of approximately a million physicians thru medical corporations extract 17% of GNP out of this country and deliver care that is no better on average than countries spending 7-10% of GNP…..countries that for such amount afford care to ALL ITS CITIZENS.
]]>By: Rosariohttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-652124
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 20:07:58 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-652124The US has the best breast cancer survival rates in the world according to Lancet Oncology. I wonder how frequent mammograms and isotope scans for metastatic growths are done in countries with government controlled medicine? There are good reasons why medical care is more expensive in the US.
]]>By: george whitneyhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-652110
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 19:48:48 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-652110Statistically we know that running women have much less breast cancer than non-running women. Doesn’t that bring the question of Why? to mind? It must be an environmental problem but what? The most obvious to me is some toxin or toxins in foods. why not toxins in indolent women when exercising women are passing so much more blood through the detoxifying anatomy apparatus? Moreover I would advise a recently diagnosed breast cancer patient to get out and run for an hour 3 times a week before rushing into surgery. But we veterinarians cannot prescribe for humans.
]]>By: Joanahttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-651814
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:37:52 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-651814So it is true, doctors are humans just like the rest of us. Wishing all the best to your wife.
Best regards,
]]>By: RHhttp://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/comment-page-2/#comment-650884
Thu, 03 Mar 2011 01:40:43 +0000http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/the-doctor-who-knew-too-much/#comment-650884I have been a nurse for almost 32 years so I have seen quite a bit of pain and suffering over the years. Sometimes when I see a really sick patient coping with a stage 4 cancer and are eventually going to die I think I am so grateful that it not me or a loved one. My husband had stage 1A lung cancer 2 years ago and just had a radical prostatectomy this past January for prostate cancer. It was no longer a stranger laying in the bed with cancer but now it was my husband. Being in the healthcare field and seeing alot you almost automatically think the worst because you see the worst day after day. I think it is very difficult for anyone to get a cancer diagnosis but like the article said we know too much.
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